Ky Plaskon

Investigative Reporting, Independent Service

Books, Scripts & Audio Books

  • National History
    Children's Environmental Series
    YouTube Channel 1 million views
    Audio Book Sample
  • Study: Secret Newsroom Recordings Reveal How News Descisions are Made
    Movie Script About All the Bad Things in Las Vegas
  • Study: Secret Newsroom Recordings Reveal How News Descisions are Made
    Movie Script About All the Bad Things in Las Vegas

Celebrating Heroes

My latest blog post is about the audio book I am recording and includes the entire Chapter 2 of The Good Fight by Senator Harry Reid. No, it's not political, just an attempt to unite urban and rural America. I celebrate our heroes big and small from the covert military operations to our most powerful Americans and the people who work quietly to make our lives better every day. Please check out my blog for the latest things in my life and the latest releases. Thanks!
Ky@nevada.unr.edu

Life and Career

1997 - Academic Career

Started at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and completed a degree in print journalism and started the school's first radio news programming, went on to a Masters in Media Studies at UNLV where he started the school's first daily TV news broadcast. He is currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program for Educational Technology at UNR.

2008 - Publishing

Silent Heroes of the Cold: Declassified was published in 2008, leading congress to designate the National Cold War Memorial at Mt. Charleston near Las Vegas, the first memorial of its kind on federal National Forest Service property. Plaskon's name is engraved in the granite of the memorial in honor of the book. He has also published Trick Roll that compiles experiences in Las Vegas as a reporter and has completed the first in a children's environmental coloring story series.

1994-2014 - Media

Award-winning, investigative and pioneering media career in radio, television, and web took him from Alaska to Chile. He has worked for UPI, Santiago, Chile; KSUA, Fairbanks; KTNA-Talkeetna; AM970 Fairbanks; Fairbanks Daily News-Miner; KPBS San Diego; Gay and Lesbian Times; San Diego Reader; KNPR Las Vegas; CBS-Radio, Las Vegas; KLAS-TV, Las Vegas; KOLO-TV Reno & freelanced for CNN, National Public Radio, Voice of America, The World, American Public Media, Public Radio International and KXJZ Sacramento as the first Sierra Reporter. Recently, he began producing innovative content as a paid YouTube Creator with interviews and still photos. His work has over a million views. He has won four awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, one from the California Chicano News Media Association and two from the Intercollegiate Radio and Television Association in New York.

Early Life - Present

Grew up with a dual life in San Diego, California. On the weekends and evenings, he was a country boy on a small farm east of San Diego with cows, chickens and fields and lakes, riding his bike with his dog and hiking off trails. During the week, he went to school in urban San Diego in primarily minority schools, learning Spanish fluently along the way. He has hitchhiked throughout the west from Alaska to Las Vegas and Chile, held jobs from toilet cleaning, guarding parking lots, running rickshaws, serving food, chopping ice, painting, web design, catching pedophiles on the early Internet, home remodeling, delivering doughnuts, university and high school teaching, towtruck driving and, at times, has held up to 5 jobs at one time. He still teaches high school. He developed news programs for the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He has traveled extensively in South America and visited Europe and North Africa. On his travels, he has often been lost and in dangerous situations from protests, to military actions, lost in forests, attacked, mugged, stalked, and sometimes slept on the streets. Currently, he is an Education Information Officer with the state's newest agency, the Cannabis Compliance Board. His role is to help the public, industry, and state staff comply with state law in this pioneering industry. He writes policy and steps in to help solve major operational problems as they arise. He is writing the agency's first employee and operations manual as well. During his time with the board, he coordinated the first training for contractors to issue cannabis dispensary licenses in the state. Following the award of licenses, a contentious legal battle ensued between some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the state. Plaskon coordinated the response to assist the governor and agency improve transparency. Plaskon himself vigorously defended the process multiple times, testifying in court and conducting media interviews. The process was ultimately upheld. In his spare time, he writes movie scripts, records audiobooks, spends time with his two daughters, does triathlons, and loves to cook.

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Copyright © 2020 Kyril D. Plaskon